The KUGB's 42nd National Championship took place on the 18th of May at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. The event, as always, attracted a large number of competitors and needed twelve areas of continuous action throughout the day to complete the eliminations.

The finals opened with the National Anthem followed by the introduction of the KUGB Technical Committee, Andy Sherry, Terry O'Neill, Bob Poynton, Bob Rhodes, Billy Higgins and Frank Brennan.

The KUGB senior men's kumite team consisting of Mathew Price, John Bruce,Christopher Cray, Michael Davison and Antony Duffy were then introduced, having achieved the outstanding feat of winning both the World and European team kumite titles under the auspices of the World and European Shotokan Karate Associations.

The finals started with the children's categories and of particular note was Hisham Saif who won both his kumite event and the children's kata event. Hisham - from the Al Ghazali club in Liverpool - was also awarded the Charles Naylor Memorial Trophy for the most outstanding child competitor. He also demonstrated the application of the Kata, Niju Shiho. He was assisted by members of the KUGB kata squad and his demonstration was greatly appreciated by the audience.

Ryan Tucker from Leeds Karate Academy was awarded the Derek Langham Memorial Trophy for the most outstanding junior competitor.

John Bruce from the Sendai Kushiro club was awarded the Sensei Enoeda Memorial Trophy for the most outstanding senior competitor.

Mathew Price, along with two members of his dojo, Ryan Tucker and Tom Little, performed an exciting self-defence demonstration which received a tremendous response from the audience.There were many brilliant performances on the day and the senior men's individual kumite event between Christopher Cray and John Bruce was outstanding, with Christopher eventually emerging as champion.Many thanks to all the referees, timekeepers/recorders, medical staff and helpers who make the event run so smoothly. Above all, congratulations to all the competitors whose high standard make this such a prestigious event.